Chelsea disrupted Manchester City's progress towards the lead with a positive draw at the Etihad Stadium to give a gift to Arsenal.
Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer, former Manchester City stars, were able to lead their team, Chelsea, to a 1-1 draw today, preventing Manchester City from returning to the top of the English Premier League, in the events of Round 25 of the Premier League.
Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino's men excelled in the first half through a tight defensive plan that stopped all the keys to Manchester City's play, as well as playing on counterattacks, taking advantage of the speed of the offensive line.
From a quick counter-attack led by young star Cole Palmer, he passed a long ball to French full-back Malo Gusto, who went ahead and passed a cross to put Senegalese striker Jackson alone with the goalkeeper. Still, he was too lazy to put it in the net and goalkeeper Ederson saved it amid anger from the Chelsea coach.
City tried repeatedly to dismantle Chelsea's defense but was met with brilliance from the defensive line led by Colwell and the Frenchman Axel Disasi. Then they succeeded in repeating the same counterattack, which prepared Cole Palmer alone on goal, but he missed the lead goal again.
Before the end of the first half, Chelsea were rewarded for their superiority, and Palmer was able to pass a rebound to Jackson, who set off alone through the City defense to pass the ball to Sterling, who eluded the defender and put it into the net of his former team in the 42nd minute of the first half.
At halftime, Guardiola motivated his players and urged them to return to the match, and his team launched the second half with a flood of attacks on Chelsea, but was met with a tight defense from the Chelsea players that prevented the City players from making dangerous attacks on their goalkeeper Petrovic.
Coach Pochettino took out the two stars of the match, Jackson and Sterling, to maintain the score and secure his defense. Still, it was a grave tactical mistake by the experienced coach in the Premier League, as he prevented his team from counterattacking, which prompted Guardiola to increase the offensive pressure and add Bernardo Silva to his attack.
Erling Haaland disappeared in Chelsea's defenses for most of the match. Still, he reappeared with a dangerous header after escaping the defenses and meeting Kevin De Bruyne's cross. Still, he did not direct his head correctly to waste the opportunity to equalize for City, amidst Pep Guardiola's astonishment.
City increased their pressure until the rescue came with a reverse foot from Trevoh Chalobah, who diverted Rodri's shot into the net, giving City an equalizer in the 83rd minute of the match.
City intensified their pressure to achieve victory, and a crossbal hit Colwell's hand before he took it away, so the City players put pressure on the referee to return to the VAR. The VAR reviewed the shot but found it spontaneous and decided not to award a penalty kick, amid objection from the Spanish coach and the City players, before the scorer finished the match with a fair positive draw.
With this tie, City falls to third place and loses the lead to Liverpool, which achieved a major victory today with a score of 4-1 over Burntford and leads the league with 57 points. In second place comes Arsenal, which achieved a great victory over Burnley today with a score of 5-0, raising its score to 55 points, while City’s score stops. At 53 points, it is in third place and has a game in hand, while Chelsea raised its score to 35 points in tenth place.